Embracing the inescapable joys of sound.

Horned Almighty – Necro Spirituals

There’s no letting up with Horned Almighty. As the name suggests, they’re chocked full of satanic energy, fully armed to the hilt with devilish riffs with a coarse, thumping entity of twisted grunts and manic percussion.

That’s not to say that the Danish outfit simply adopt the same structures throughout the record. There are fresh variations across the board, from an unrelenting thrash with some definitive hardcore influence, to a slower blood-stomping pace.

Ever found something attractive and you can’t explain to yourself why? Fountain Of A Thousand Plagues has the fresh vitality of a hardcore structure with some brutal yet somehow catchy blackened riffing.

The Age Of Scorn treats us to some severe beat blasting at the beginning, only to turn its focus to a hardcore beat again with stripped down, raw squawks.

Delivering an intoxicating sludgy bass line, The Blasphemous Burden has a thick yet melodious temperament despite the messy feedback building up to the slogging chorus.

For the sticklers of traditional black metal, this may still be of enjoyment, depending on whether you see Horned Almighty as a group experimenting with brutality or poisoning the principles of an aggressive sound. Usually having a conservative view, there’s still something about this hybrid that clicks.